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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29336163">Like a Melody, In My Head</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rick_KTish/pseuds/Rick_KTish'>Rick_KTish</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Rick's Linked Universe things [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dissociation, Earth Temple, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Mind Control, Prompt 01: Mind Control, Prompt Fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:00:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,731</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29336163</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rick_KTish/pseuds/Rick_KTish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stuck together in Wind's Earth Temple and swarmed by monsters, Wind uses a controversial ability and suffers the consequences.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wind (Linked Universe) &amp; Legend (Linked Universe), Wind (Linked Universe) &amp; Wild (Linked Universe)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Rick's Linked Universe things [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>117</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Like a Melody, In My Head</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Two hours into their latest adventure under somebody’s brilliant idea for a place of spiritual concentration-turned-nightmare and Wind has just about had it with monster evolution.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wars! On your six!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The look on the Captain’s face is comical enough that as he dances away from the poe sneaking up behind him Wind actually takes a moment to facepalm— or the nearest equivalent at least, as he’s currently holding his mirror shield with both hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t let them </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking</span>
  </em>
  <span> touch you, I’m not saying it again!” is all he manages to shout before he has to turn again to blasting monsters with beams of reflected light. “Does literally </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone else</span>
  </em>
  <span> have one of these and can you please </span>
  <em>
    <span>help me? </span>
  </em>
  <span>I can only point this one way at a time!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s more than a little relieved to hear Time, Four, and Legend call out. Maybe between the four of them they’ll actually make it out of this monster rush with their bodies and minds mostly intact— winds know he and Medli barely did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wild, cover me!” Time shouts, having to disengage long enough to actually pull out his mirror shield. It’s more of a pain than he’d like; somehow it seems that every monster in the dungeon has converged on this single room, forcing them all to fight around the press rather than with the elbow room really necessary to fight with a sword. Hyrule and Wild seem to be doing alright for themselves, but Time, Warriors, and Twilight are especially struggling to get in their usual sweeping blows in the confined space. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stepping back a little from the press, Time manages to get his shield out and start pushing his way toward a beam of light like the one Wind is standing under. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got it?’ Wild calls to him, and he manages an affirmative over the tumult before he’s jabbing and bashing his way through and the rest of Wild’s commentary is lost to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Four has also gotten to a beam of light and has started imitating Wind’s trick of sweeping the beams of light over groups of enemies. It’s a bit of a trick, because anything that’s hit will block the light from reaching any monsters behind it. At Four’s height, this becomes a balancing act of directing light wherever he can without blocking his own usefulness; the difficulty all the more compounded by his needing to pause in his active directing every now and then to slash at everything trying to bat at him in his own little beam of sanctuary in between.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How the fuck did you do this last time, Sailor?” Legend calls from his own corner where he’s failing dramatically at getting to his own beam of light. The way becomes suddenly easier as one of the other mirror-wielding heroes beams down an entire row of dark chuchus for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There weren’t this fucking many at once last time, that’s how!” he hears shouted back as he heaves a petrified chuchu into the air and hurls it out of his path. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally reaching that last ray, Legend also begins mowing down swaths of monsters, and it seems to make the difference. Suddenly spread out well enough not to have to worry about accidentally stabbing each other, Sky, Wild, Warriors, Twilight, and Hyrule begin making real progress on the dark creatures surrounding them. Wild hauls out a boulder breaker and lets loose on the stony creatures being frozen all around him, and Hyrule is crackling with some kind of red energy that’s keeping the monsters from landing any hits on him. Time nearly backs too far out of his sunbeam trying to get a better angle on Warriors and his throng and has a close call with a redead lurking in the shadows at his back, but its scream is swiftly drowned out by an echoing clap of thunder that leaves Hyrule sparking and glowing slightly. Wild takes this as a cue and swiftly zaps most the monsters still within a stone’s throw of his cobble crusher into oblivion before moving to help Sky out. Slowly, they make progress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind is quite honestly relieved. He spent as little time as he could physically justify in the Earth Temple during his quest, and even now, when they’ve been dropped into it unceremoniously by a deceptively normal-looking portal, he can’t say he regrets that decision. He wouldn’t trade a better idea of the layout of this hellhole for a single minute longer trapped within its walls if Zephos, Cyclos, and all the fishmen together offered it to him with a bottomless bait-bag to sweeten the pot. He’s just grateful the other heroes are experienced enough to take him at his word that letting any of the dark creatures here touch them would end badly for everyone involved. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A bare moment later Wind curses himself for thinking it too soon. Wild, leading a dark chuchu away from Sky, has stumbled nearly into a floormaster’s waiting palm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wild!” come three or four shouts as everyone in line of sight of the impending disaster cries out with alarm, but no one is near enough to help and there’s no direct line from a beam of light to the floormaster behind Wild. In an instant, Wind has his baton out, conducting a familiar beat in the Earth Temple’s halls.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To the others, it looks like this: Wind shouts with the rest of them before lowering his mirror shield for the first time since they arrived and flicking a strange silver stick from his shirtsleeve with all the grace and elegance of a master cardshark. There’s a strange, echoing harmony as he waves four beats in the air, and then a sudden gust of air blows Wild’s hair out of his face as both he and Wind stiffen in place. Wind stays frozen where he is, slender baton still raised, as Wild performs a sudden acrobatic somersault and rolls away from the floormaster, launching himself up a nearby wall and onto the top of a broad doorway to crouch, safely out of reach. Then he blinks and lurches like he’s lost his sense of balance for a moment before catching himself as Wind starts moving again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To Wild, it feels like the pictures in his slate that Flora likes to call “moments before disaster strikes—” that sensation in his stomach like he’s fallen off a cliff with something in his hands that he’s going to have to drop to pull out his paraglider. It’s a feeling he’s more than familiar with, being inclined to more than his fair share of disasters. Only this time it’s suddenly followed by the alarming feeling of being ejected from the main controls of his own body. There’s a sensation like riding Vah Rudania around Death Mountain in the dark as his torso curls and his limbs reach and grasp and he ascends a sheer wall swiftly enough to make Revali jealous, and he’s barely started to restabilize when suddenly the reins are in his own grasp again and he nearly faceplants off a twelve-foot-drop before catching himself. Disturbed and disoriented, it takes him several full seconds to realize there are still the straggling bits and pieces of a fight going on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To Wind, it blends in rather nicely with all his other memories of this spirits-and-winds-and-gods-and-light-forsaken temple: the moment of horror, the automatic beats of the Command Melody, the strange sensation of being in a stranger’s body and terrifying hope that he doesn’t accidentally hurt them in any way, and then the heartbeat of confusion at returning to his own body and suddenly finding himself facing an entirely different direction giving exactly enough time for a poe to take advantage of the fact that he stumbled out of the beam of light while rescuing his companion and tagging him for a bit of funsies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s rather difficult to reorient oneself when the entire world is backwards, but Wind, unfortunately, has enough experience to simply let out a furious bellow and launch himself into a hurricane spin attack. Because if he’s going to be dizzy anyway he might as well get some use out of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whirling entirely uncontrollably into the sunlight is enough to forcibly eject the poe from his body, but Wind is still furious. He’s tired and upset and of </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> the places in his world they could have landed </span>
  <em>
    <span>this is not the one he wants to deal with today.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Nearly screaming with rage, he raises his mirror shield.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>He beams down the last four dark chuchus, one floormaster, and two poes close enough to be considered within his reach in a single sweep of light. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“FUCKING.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Tosses his boomerang at the poes and throws a bomb right in the middle of the paralyzed monsters, dashing forward to roll around a redead. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“HATE.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Lunges into the air mid-roll, slamming into the redead from behind and stabbing it through the back of its crumbling, decaying head. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“</span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>POES!</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The bomb goes off, obliterating the chuchus and one of the poes, leaving the other still stunned enough for him to slash its still corporeal form once through, disintegrating it. Finding no other creatures immediately by him, he takes a moment to breathe, calming his boiling nerves, only to realize that the room is silent around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zzat the last of them?” he huffs, turning to look to either of their defacto leaders for confirmation from a head better able to see over and around the large stone blocks strewn at random throughout the room. Warriors follows Time’s nod, and the group collectively relaxes some of the tension from their weary battle stances. Wild hops cautiously down from his Wind-designated perch, apparently still shaken from the ordeal of being commandeered. Wars appears to shake himself before stepping to and assessing everyone’s state post-skirmish. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Many eyes trace a path between Wind and Wild, who’s eyeing their youngest warily, uncertain exactly what happened but knowing he was somehow responsible for his brief jaunt in the back seat of his own body. Wind is ignoring them all, rubbing at his wrist and trying to ground himself back in the present. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Legend who speaks up first. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck, Wind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes a minute to get the islander to respond. When he finally looks up, he’s still holding his wrist like an old ache is bothering him. He takes a shuddering breath and almost meets Wild’s eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry about that. It’s just... reflex in here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wild still looks uncomfortable, apparently not much bothered that Wind can’t seem to quite focus on his face. Legend scoffs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reflex? To </span>
  <em>
    <span>possess</span>
  </em>
  <span> someone at— at the drop of a hat like that? How— what kind of </span>
  <em>
    <span>reflex</span>
  </em>
  <span> is that?” There’s something almost panicked in the veteran’s voice that makes a distant part of Wind’s mind wonder what kind of experience Legend has had with possession that have put him so out of sorts with it now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably a necessary one.” It takes Wind a moment to notice Warriors’ hand on his shoulder. When did he walk over here? “Have a seat, Sailor. Did your wrist get hurt?” He waves Hyrule over from where he’s hovering uncertainly behind the Vet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wha?” Wind’s mouth is full of cotton and his ears are full of sea foam. There’s a weird pressure all around his head and nowhere around his body— he can’t feel the ground beneath him as Wars gently guides him down, nor the weight of his own body being pulled that way by the soul of the world itself, unresisted by his numb and feeble knees. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The group watches, concerned and collectively discomfited, as Warriors and Hyrule attempt to get Wind to respond to some kind of stimulus. Gone is the tension of the possession itself, the focused tightness of the neck and shoulders, the look of intense concentration as the baton remained held aloft, ready to direct at a moment’s notice. Instead there’s a glassy look in the teen’s eyes and face, distant and doll-like as his hands rest weakly in his lap, hand still holding his wrist as though to continue rubbing it. He doesn’t react as Hyrule takes it into his grasp to examine it, only puts his hand back around it when the Traveler shakes his head, declaring it totally fine as far as he can tell. It’s disturbing to see one usually so vibrant and energetic reduced to a shadow of a whisper, vacant in mind and soul so far as they can see.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It takes several minutes to get anything more than blank staring from the boy. Warriors has everyone take a step or two back to give them some space and takes Wind’s wrist himself, rubbing it in imitation of Wind’s own actions before, speaking lowly and steadily to try to get some response. Eventually Wind blinks, and his eyes finally move from their place in the middle distance, drifting vaguely from side to side before finding their confused way to Warriors’ hand on his wrist. After another moment his gaze follows Wars’ arm up to his face, and, after a few moments of confused staring, his eyes close and he gives a heavy sigh, as one tired from the weight of the world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You back with us?” Warriors asks, and gets a quiet hum in response. He tries again. “Wind? Do you know where we are?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another sigh. “...Earth temple,” comes the reluctant response, apparently resisted more by Wind’s own thoughts than by the sailor himself, if the searching pause is anything to go by. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Warriors affirms. “Do you know what happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind is silent for several long, slow breaths. Almost it seems that he’s drifted away again, but finally he asks quietly, “Command Melody?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Warriors hums. “I don’t know about that, buddy—” a collective wince goes around the group; if Wind were more himself, they’d be hearing some pretty strong abuse over the ‘demeaning’ name— “I think you’d know more about that than I. What’s the Command Melody?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind’s eyes open again at last and he sighs again, apparently coming a little more back to himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Medli and Makar aren’t... aren’t fighters. Musicians. And in the Temples. They were more... Laruto and Fado... than themselves. Listening to the song... couldn’t hide... couldn’t follow directions. Got the Melody from the Tower of the Gods. They said... use it, to keep them safe, to... so they didn’t... get hurt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Medli and Makar asked you to?” Warriors clarified.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind hums. “A’fore we got to the island. Knew they’d be... not there. Mentally. I think it’s a Sage thing.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few laughs. Wind is definitely coming back to himself now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And this? Did this happen before when you used it? Or is this new?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This earns a full derisive snort. “‘N what time? Nah, not... right away. Had to... I had to get them through, keep them safe, and it was just me. Didn’t have time to... shut down, I guess. But after they finished... Red was... worried. Said I didn’t... wasn’t really there after I came out, for a while.” Actually moving at last, the Sailor raises his hands to rub at his face, reminding himself how to feel his own skin. “Earth temple was worse than Wind, he said I didn’t wake up for two days after this one. Threatened to take me back to Tetra down in Hyrule Castle, see if she could wake me up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blinking hard a few times, Wind finally looks up and meets Wild’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I had to have Medli hide up there a few times. Seeing you get that close to a floormaster— I just acted on instinct, cause if it was her, she wasn’t really herself enough to fly out of the cages they keep their prey in. I had to use the Melody either to get her out or keep her from getting caught in the first place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legend is still looking mildly ill. “So you could just... do this? The entire time we’ve known you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean yeah,” Wind acknowledges, “But uh, I think you see why... why I don’t really use it. All that much.” He’s still rubbing at his face and arms, trying to get the feeling, the sensation of being grounded and pulled toward the earth back into his soul. “It’s not really a fun time for either of us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...” Wild trails over and sits himself next to Wind. “I can see that.” He wraps an arm around the younger teen, pulling him into a half-hug that Wind leans into, seeking comfort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘M sorry,” he mumbles again. Wild sighs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish you hadn’t used that. But thank you for keeping me away from that thing anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind hums, and says nothing more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Legend is still looking distressed, and Twilight snags him to go have a talk while the others mill around uncertainly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should we try to press on?” Sky asks looking from one door to the other and either end of the room, “Or rest here a bit?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Time calls it. “We’ll camp here for a rest. We were tired when we got here, trying to keep going will just exhaust us further.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Plus Wind’s out like a light and I’m not waking him up till his brain’s sorted itself out,” Wild adds, and they turn to see that Wind has in fact fallen asleep against the Champion’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To think,” Sky murmurs, watching the sleeping child, “he had such power all this time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Four gives an uncomfortable chuckle. “Indeed. You can see why he doesn’t use it, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That you can,” Sky nods, looking worriedly at the sailor’s still form. “That you can.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyrule pipes up suddenly, “I’m glad he did it though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They turn to him. The Traveller is tense, clearly still stressed from the fight and trying to fix something that a healer can’t reach immediately afterward, but he’s straightforward enough about his thoughts on the matter. “If that thing had gotten Wild, we’d have no choice but to keep going until we found whatever room they keep their prey in.” He meets each of their eyes in turn. “None of us has the energy for that right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s not wrong, and they both grant him the point as they turn to their own tasks to prepare a dungeon camp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They camp circled around a fire made from materials Wild apparently keeps on hand, backs to the flame and swords at the ready, just in case. There’s a horrified moment of question when someone brings up the thought that the beams of light they used so readily before are probably sunlight and will therefore go away when night falls, but none of the watches see the light fade or even move from their designated directions, so they collectively chalk it up to temple magic and give up on trying to understand it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind appears to wake entirely back to himself, energetic and eager, beginning the day by looking muzzily around the room and grumbling to himself about “not this shit again” before leaping to his feet and digging through his bag for a map. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They eat dried and cold provisions as Wind talks to Time about how to make their way out of this hellhole, and conversation is surprisingly light. Legend appears to be doing better, and he and Wind step aside for a moment to clarify some things. The others keep a fair distance and low conversation out of respect so as not to listen in, but it ends, hilariously, with Wind smiling and patting Legend’s head. When Legend protests Wind goes a step further and jumps lightly up to press a kiss to the taller man’s forehead in a comforting gesture, a promise and a ribbing in one. Legend melts a little bit, face vibrant, and Wind bounds his way back to the group to finish preparations.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s as they’re going through final checks that Wind pulls Wild aside as well. The Champion follows unquestioningly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they’re far enough away from the rest to allow conversational privacy, Wind looks him in the eye, black meeting blue. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to use the Command Melody again if it can be helped, but I can’t make any promises in this place. Can you forgive me if it happens again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This is... actually not what Wild was expecting. He thinks about the question seriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...You’d only use it if one of us is in danger?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind nods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And only if you can’t think of another way to get us out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nods again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wild thinks for another moment, before concluding that he’s being rather silly about the whole thing. This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wind</span>
  </em>
  <span> they’re talking about, not, say, himself. For all his youthful idealism and boundless energy, the thirteen-year-old can generally be relied upon as one of their more responsible incarnations, much to many of their older counterparts’ shame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I trust you with it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind looks relieved, if a little alarmed. “Just like that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wild shrugs. “You’re not going to be playing pranks with it if it’s that uncomfortable every time, and every tool is a tool, whether it’s a fun one to use or not. I trust you with it,” he repeats, and that is that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind beams at him. Wild smiles back, and is somehow completely surprised, in spite of the display with Legend earlier, when the boy drags his head down and kisses his forehead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll keep you guys safe here, even with that as a last resort,” Wind promises, and Wild doesn’t doubt him for a moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the kid lets him go and starts strolling back toward the others, calling, “Though you can help me out by listening when I say not to let them fucking touch you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wild laughs and bounds after him. Warriors and Twilight appear to be ribbing Legend still over Wind’s little display of affection, and Wild knows he can anticipate the same. “What the heck is wrong with your monsters, Wind? What is with this place?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck if I know, just do as I say, asshole!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a surprisingly cheerful party that sets out toward the entrance of the nightmarish temple, and Wild knows it’s entirely Wind’s fault. Certainly the kind of power he wields is something daunting, not to be entirely trusted, but with a kid like Wind at the wheel, they can hardly be blamed for trusting anyway.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's a clunky ending, but I'm feeling kind of clunky atm-- I'm going back to work after 3 weeks of quarantine and reality is just a little bit... skewed at the moment.<br/>I have not played Wind Waker all the way through. I'm working on vague memories from watching my brother play it and a 100% playthrough I watched two years ago. Please forgive any inconsistencies with Canon, I try to stick to it as well as I can. Also any tense inconsistencies; I like to pretend I have a consistent voice but it's a lie. <br/>Thank you for reading! Comments feed the empty void where my soul is supposed to be. <br/>:)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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